Verizon Launching Its IPTV Service in NYC Next Week; Web Video Tests
This story was written by Rafat Ali.
Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is finally ready to launch its IPTV service in one of the biggest TV market in the country: New York City. It will launch its Fios TV service Monday, following all kinds of clearances from the City. It will be a high-profile press event at the Grand Central Station, and will be webcast as well. It has already been marketing the Fios high-speed Internet service in the City for the past two years...this launch means it will be able to offer its much-vaunted triple play: telephony, TV, and broadband services, competing with the monopoly of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) Cable.
Ivan Seidenberg, CEO of Verizon, spoke earlier this week at the Fortune conference, where he seemed pleased with Fios TV roll out in various parts of the country. "Where we have been in the markets, where we have been selling 24 months or more, we have said we have 30 percent share." Fios TV had about 1.2 million customers country-wide by the end of Q1 this year.
Meanwhile, in related news, Fios TV is also working on online video component: is currently beta testing web video on their set-top boxes and their initial marketing partners include Veoh, Blip.tv, Break.com, and YouTube, reports Dave Zatz
By Rafat Ali